UBA acquires a stake in British based Jabbakam

UBA, the leading Jordanian based provider of business solutions, announced today that it has invested, through a subsidiary, a 20% stake in British technology company Jabbakam. Jabbakam, a web based system for the remote management and networking of IP cameras, allows individuals and organisations to build online networks of cameras, enabling them to share access to real-time monitoring of assets, or for the purpose of securing property and other resources such as remote infrastructures. 

As a result of this technology alliance between UBA and Jabbakam, a top class team of programmers in Amman will develop the highly innovative Jabbakam technology to provide solutions that will meet the needs of individuals, businesses and communities in the Middle East and beyond.Valued at USD 1.5million, this strategic investment is the first step in UBA’s plan to continue the expansion of its business globally by entering the high-growth cloud-based systems and security technology & solutions market. 

Jabbakam bringsthe SaaS (Software as a Service) model to the video surveillance arena, providing users with a cloud-based network infrastructure service that enables themto create virtual networks of IP Cameras. This cutting edge technology is set to change the traditional CCTV hardware and service industry. ‘Cloud’ technology is becoming widely used worldwide as a reliable and cost-effective platform for sharing resources and storing data. Jabbakam’s simple to use interface enables IP cameras to be arranged into networks allowing individual and multiple locations to be easily monitored from a single computer or smartphone. It provides real time images and historical searches, accessible from anywhere in the world via a computer or mobile device. Users can set up Jabbakam to alert them, receiving emails or text messages when cameras connected to the service detect unexpected activity. 

The surveillance market in the region is still emerging. Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar are the three major Middle Eastern markets where video surveillance equipment is actively deployed. According to Global CCTV Market Forecast to 2014, Asia and the Middle East will gain significant share in the global CCTV market by 2014-end, capturing around one-fourth share. The report also outlined that the global CCTV market will reach around US$ 23.5 billion by the end of 2014, expanding at a CAGR of about 20.5% since 2012. 

Hazem Bawab, CEO of UBA said:”This partnership brings together our complementary skillsets: UBA’s long-term know-how of the enterprise market, mobile solutions and established presence in the Middle East and Africa, along with the patented cloud-based surveillance technology provided by Jabbakam. Together we will introduce first of a kind integrated security solutions to the region. Our development teams will work to expand the capabilities of this product for our customer base.” Bawab added. 

James Wickes, founder of Jabbakam said: “Jabbakam sees the mobile device as being the primary client interface for its service and having UBA’s technical expertise will now enable us to develop so that the system works predominately on a mobile platform.We are thrilled that UBA, a company at the forefront of the Middle-Eastern technology boom with a reputation for quality systems and customer support,has decided to work together with us to develop our product for the Global market. We have some exciting developments to move the performance of Jabbakam forward including a more user-friendly interface for customers, more choice about how to view and receive footage and alsoestablishing channel controls to enable resellers to manage the system – we have a very large roadmap for developing the system and this investment from UBA will enable us both to take the market by storm”.